Neil deGrasse Tyson on Bill Maher

Oh, hell yeah. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Bill Maher talking about NASA budget and the proposal to cancel the Webb telescope. My respect for this man grows every time I see him.
"The TARP was more money than NASA has ever spent" and "what they're removing is anything for people to dream about." The future died in quarterly reports.

Definitely looking forward to the upcoming new show.

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Multi-use platform

One thing I think I will definitely want to try once I get the 3D printer working is to use a sharpie in place of the extruder and try using it for making PCB prototypes.
Note to self though, don't try to use IC pads as vias, if you use sockets it's impossible to solder the damned things. Maybe machined pins broken out the strip would work, you could solder both sides. I should buy some machined pins off eBay and try that with last year's prototype.

EDIT: actually, building an X-Y-Z platform for pens and routers is probably a better idea than trying to get the extruder on and off a RepRap. There are plenty of videos up on YouTube of people patching together such platforms out of random junk, and most of them are using RepRap electronics since that allows control using g-code so a normal software chain can be used.
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New printer, new problem

The new Brother printer (MFC-8890DW) that we got for the church came in today. Good news first, it's a very nice printer and I think it's going to work well, be cheap to operate and last us a long time. Ethernet, wireless, duplex printing and duplex scanning, 30ppm, dirt cheap aftermarket supplies.

Bad news: Supply problems due to the Japan earthquake means that they were missing a connector that supplies signal to the optional paper tray, so the 2nd tray doesn't work. They have a small quantity of the connector and are going to fix it for free at an authorized service center, but they say I'm going to have to get it there.

I'm not real inclined to do so; I didn't pay for most of a printer, I paid for a whole printer. I'm going to see what they have to say about it, then see if they'll pay shipping or something. I'm trying not to borrow trouble, it's possible they'll be good to me.

I'm not actually all that upset, it's a sensible decision since probably a small percentage of these printers ever have the 2nd paper tray added, and it makes sense to continue shipping a popular printer without the connector.